Faculty Directory

Beth Alison Shapiro
  • Title
    • Professor
    • Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
    • Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor
  • Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division
  • Department
    • Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department
    • Genomics Institute
  • Affiliations Genomics Institute, Rachel Carson College, Cowell College
  • Phone
    831-459-3003 (Office), 831-459-3009 (Lab)
  • Email
  • Website
  • Office Location
    • Biomedical Sciences, 144
    • 219 CBB
  • Office Hours Tuesdays 11:30-12:30 or by appointment
  • Mail Stop CBB/EE Biology
  • Mailing Address
    • 1156 High Street
    • Santa Cruz CA 95064
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Ancient DNA, Genomics, Ecology, Molecular Evolution, Evolution

Summary of Expertise

Molecular evolution; Genome evolution; Ancient DNA

Research Interests

My research aims to better understand how populations and species change through time, in particular in in response to environmental and other changes to their habitat. To address this, my group uses the latest experimental and computational approaches to analyze genetic information isolated from fossil and archived remains. I am particularly interested in learning what drives two particularly important evolutionary processes: speciation and extinction.

Biography, Education and Training

BS, Ecology, University of Georgia (1999)
MS, Ecology, University of Georgia (1999)
DPhil, Zoology, Oxford University (2003)

Honors, Awards and Grants

Packard Fellow, 2010
PopTech Science and Public Leadership Fellow, 2010
National Geographic Emerging Explorer, 2010
MacArthur Fellow, 2009
Searle Scholar, 2009
University Research Fellow, The Royal Society, 2006
Rhodes Scholar, 1999

Teaching Interests

Evolutionary Biology
Molecular Ecology
Paleogenomics